What it does: Daraz is an online retail marketplace.
Best known for: Introducing Pakistan’s first Black Friday, a massive online shopping event in 2015 which broke sales records in Pakistan and sold to 1.5 million customers on a single day.
Staff stats: 50-200 employees working in departments such as design, data operations, product management, software development, and others.
The good bits: Employees at Daraz enjoy the company of being with like-minded people. Most employees love the fact that their workplace promotes a positive working environment, the managers are approachable, and most importantly the compensation is good.
The not so good bits: To address every order across various locations, employees are expected to work under great amounts of pressure.
Founded by European online startup founders from Rocket Internet in 2012, Daraz was first developed as an online fashion retailer in Pakistan. In 2015, Daraz expanded its inventory from fashion to general retail. They also went from serving customers in Pakistan to expanding their reach to Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.
In 2016, Daraz launched Pakistan’s first Fashion Week, the same-day delivery service called Daraz Express, and made PKR 1billiion in sales on its second Black Friday event. As the years went by, Daraz began acquiring new businesses like C2C marketplace Kaymu, Daraz changed their Black Friday event into Big Friday and generated PKR 3billion in sales in 2017. By 2018, Daraz was acquired by Chinese multinational company, the Alibaba Group.
In order to join Daraz, applicants first submit an application online. On their website, applicants enter their personal details and professional history. Applicants are also required to submit a one-minute video introducing themselves and expressing their passion for e-commerce.
After the online application, applicants take the online assessment tests on the Daraz website. This helps the company evaluate personal and cognitive abilities.
When applicants are considered to be a good fit for the company, they are called in for a case study competition where their competency and approach are assessed.
The final stage of the recruitment process is with the management team. Applicants are interviewed by management to see if they have what it takes to be a future leader in Daraz.
If you're coming into Daraz expecting a challenge, consider joining their leadership program. Daraz selects exceptional employees to take part in the Daraz Future Leadership Program (DFLP). This program takes chosen individuals through an 18-month program where they are given the chance to develop their autonomy, decision-making, and overall growth as a professional.
The program is divided into six 6-month rotations, in which participants are required to deliver monthly presentations to management, take part in quarterly external training and manage their own project in different departments in the company.
During the program, chosen participants interact with Daraz's top management, they get a chance to conduct high-impact projects, gain experiential learning, and be mentored as a future leader of the company.
Individuals who have gone through the DLFP make up some of Daraz's managers from various departments.
Employees at Daraz receive competitive compensation, and at times, their compensation is above the industry standard. Operations Officers can make PKR 20,000 to PKR 22,000 per month, and Facilitation Center Coordinators can make up to PKR 40,000 per month.
Designers, Data Operations Specialists, Software Developers, and Business Intelligence employees can earn at least PKR 76,000 per month including perks and benefits.
Daraz has a fast-paced corporate culture, with incoming online orders 24/7. Employees work round-the-clock to attend to the needs of customers. Every employee is expected to keep up with this pace to stay productive.
Daraz joined Rizq to work towards ending hunger by giving monthly food supplies to Rizq verified families. With the help of Daraz and other contributors, the cause has served more than 1.5 million meals to families all over the world. Customers are also encouraged by Daraz to contribute to the same cause or choose the cause they want to support on their website.
Daraz is said to have a very youthful vibe, common to what many e-commerce and internet companies have. Employees in Daraz say that they have a great work atmosphere where colleagues are always willing to help out. Meeting tight deadlines may bring pressure at times, however, employees consider this to be positive as pressure helps them develop their skills.